ECHL Fort Wayne Komets

10,000 to Welcome Komets Home Saturday

November 4, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fort Wayne Komets News Release


Fort Wayne, IN --- One road game is all that remains of a 10-game tour leading up to the Komet's home opener this Saturday. The Komets traveled to Elmira Friday and were doubled up 6-3 as the Jackals evened the season series 1-1. Saturday the Komets shutout the Generals at Flint 3-0 to escape the weekend with 2 points and remain in 4th place in the Eastern Conference after 9 games played.

Friday in Elmira Dustin Virag and Bobby Stewart each scored a goal and added an assist while Colin Chaulk picked up helpers on all 3 Komet goals. Jake Ortmeyer netted the Komet's 3rd goal on the power play, his first goal of the season. Scott Rideout took his 2nd loss of the season stopping 10 of 14 shots and Tom Lawson allowed 1 goal on 9 shots in 21 minutes of relief.

Saturday the Komets traveled to Flint where they earned their first shutout of the season 3-0 over the host Generals. Virag, Michel Massie and Marc Barlow each scored for the Komets while Lawson earned his first career shutout stopping all 23 Flint shots. The Komets outshot the Generals 39-23 to extend their streak of outshooting opponents to 7 games (277-176).

This week the Komets will travel to Kalamazoo Friday to face the Wings at 7:30pm before returning home to host the Quad City Mallards Saturday at 7:35pm. A record sell-out crowd of approximately 10,000 fans will witness the Komet's 2002-03 UHL season home opener, the first event to be held in the newly renovated Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Komets will shatter the old official attendance record set Jan. 21, 1970 at the coliseum when the Komets defeated the Muskegon Mohawks 5-4 in front of a crowd of 8,537.

Pre-game festivities will include a ribbon cutting ceremony by Allen County officials, signifying the beginning of a new era for the coliseum arena.

After Saturday night's home opener, the Komets skate at Quad City Sunday at 6pm in the 2nd game of a home-and-home weekend series.

Komet games this week:
11/8, Friday.....Komets at Kalamazoo, 7:30pm
11/9, Saturday.....Quad City at Komets, 7:35pm
11/10, Sunday....Komets at Quad City, 6pm
Gamecast: All 3 games will be broadcast on WOWO Radio AM 1190 and webcast at www.komets.com at KometCast)

Komet practices this week (week of 11/4):
Monday, 1pm at McMillen...Tuesday 10am at McMillen...Wednesday thru Friday 10am at the coliseum. (Note: No practice ice Saturday, Nov. 9)

Leader board: Virag 8a, 12pts, 33pim.....Massie 5g, 3ppg.....Massie, Venedam +8.....Venedam 40 shots .....Lawson 3-1-0, 2.07 ave, .917 spct.

For the week: Virag 2g, 1a...Chaulk 3a...Stewart, Massie 1g, 1a...Venedam 2a...Ortmeyer, Barlow 1g...Selleke, Kotyluk 1a...Lawson 2gp, 81:30, 1-0-0, 1 shutout, 1ga, 0.74 ave, 32/33, ..970 spct ...Rideout 1gp, 37:14, 0-1-0, 4ga...power play 1/10= 10%, penalty kill 7/9=77.8%.

Milestones ahead......David-Alexandre Beauregard has registered 98 career UHL assists.....Colin Chaulk has passed 198 career assists.....Bobby Stewart has netted 98 regular season goals in his pro career.....Sean Venedam has 195 regular season assists.

Streaking Komets.....Dustin Virag is riding a 6-game point streak (4g, 7a, 11pts)...Michel Massie has points in each game he has played to date for a personal 6-game point streak (5g, 6a, 11pts) and 5-game goal streak (5g).

First things.....more firsts were scored in the Komet's 3-0 win at Flint Saturday 11/2: Marc Barlow notched his first pro goal, Tom Lawson earned his first career shutout, it was the first Komets shutout of the season (13th UHL shutout), and Kevin Kotyluk marked his first pro point (assist).

Season Tickets Ready for Pick Up.....Komet Season Ticket Holders are reminded to pick up their season tickets at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way anytime this week thru Friday from 9am to 5:30pm. For information, call the Komet office at (260) 483-0011.

Tickets are sold out for the Komet's home opener against Quad City this Saturday night, but plenty of tickets for good seats remain on sale for Komet home games 2 and 3 Friday, Nov. 15 vs. the Adirondack IceHawks and Saturday, Nov. 16 vs. the Port Huron Beacons. Tickets are on sale at the Coliseum Ticket Office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Komets Commemorative Championship Patch.....this season is the 10th, 20th, and 30th anniversary of Komet championships and the Komets will honor the great accomplishments of the 1962-63, 1964-65, 1972-73, and 1992-93 seasons by wearing a commemorative patch on each shoulder of a newly designed home jersey. The patch was design by Custom Art of Fort Wayne and depicts the IHL Turner Cup embraced by the orange Komet logo and swirl.

KometCast worldwide.....fans can catch Komet hockey action all over the world with Comcast KometCast, an exclusive Fort Wayne Komets internet presentation available at the Komets website at www.komets.com. Comcast KometCast features play-by-play by Bob Chase in his 50th season of calling Komet hockey radio-rinkside. Komet team stats, information, UHL standings and more also can be found at www.komets.com. Stats and standings are updated each morning during the season.

Check out the Fort Wayne Komets Statistics



ECHL Stories from November 4, 2002


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